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Last Survivor of 9/11: The Incredible Story of Genelle Guzman

The Port Authority worker lay in the WTC rubble for 27 hours before rescue came.

Verity Partington
8 min readJun 17, 2021
The wreckage of the World Trade Center after September 11th 2001
The wreckage of the World Trade Center after 9/11 (Image: David Mark from Pixabay)

SSeptember 11th, 2001 should have been an ordinary day at the office for 31-year-old Genelle Guzman, just like it would have been for thousands of others who worked in New York’s World Trade Center that bright morning in early fall.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Genelle had moved to the US in the late 1990s in the hope of landing a great job and living the American Dream.

She eventually found work as an Office Administrative Assistant for the Port Authority of New York, which meant her workplace became the 64th floor of the North Tower. That fateful day, she had signed in just as usual and grabbed a bagel from one of the building’s cafes before going to chat with her co-worker Rosa Gonzalez.

Not just another day

However, as the two women happily talked about their lives, there was a ground-shaking rumble from somewhere upstairs. Genelle said she looked out of her window to see an enormous fireball shoot past and debris start to rain down.

At first, the women and the rest of the staff on the 64th floor wondered if there might have been an earthquake. After all, what…

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Verity Partington
Verity Partington

Written by Verity Partington

A writer and author of crime thrillers living in the UK. Partial to books, stationery, papercrafts and walking. You can find her books on Amazon here: https://a

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